Nursing Leadership From the Outside In
Glazer, G. & Fitzpatrick, J. J. (Eds.). (2013). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company. 282 pages, softbound, US $45.72, ISBN 978-0-8261-0866-1.
Reviewed by:
Valerie Spotts, BSN, RN
Educational Nurse Coordinator
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
The editors present many dimensions of leadership through unique contributions by leaders in areas outside of nursing, such as academia, business, healthcare administration, medicine, philanthropy, and government. This is a novel approach giving a much broader view of leadership than texts written solely by nursing leaders. The underlying theme is that nurses need to be key players in the transformation of health care and new models of healthcare delivery. To excel at this role, nurses need the skills and advice on effective leadership. The purpose is to provide nurses with examples of how these skills can be mobilized and used in the real world. The target audience includes master's and doctorate level nurses as well as nurses in formal and informal leadership positions.
The book is organized with chapters by each contributor, including an introduction at the beginning of each chapter by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick to give you background on each contributor. There are key words listed for each chapter to identify the concepts that will be discussed.
Some examples of chapter content include the following:
* Practical advice from a politician about how to work with elected officials on bills of interest to nursing
* Leadership principles in an era of multidisciplinary collaboration
* The role of nursing in managed care
* How to break down the silos of health care
* Contributions of nursing leadership to safety and quality
The key words and chapter introductions allow the reader to choose which chapters are most helpful to them. Some contributors discuss different leadership styles and the advantages and disadvantages associated with them. Others focus on specific leadership traits that make a leader successful. Many chapters include stories of individual nurses in leadership positions to illustrate the points in the text.
Some chapters are very easy to read and give very concrete examples of leadership qualities, and other chapters feel like you are reading a textbook. Different contributors have different writing styles, with some more formal and some more colloquial. One chapter has a narrow focus of nurse's role in philanthropy, whereas another has a broader focus of leadership skills necessary for the nursing profession. Not all chapters will be helpful to all readers. For example, if your leadership interests do not involve Academia, then those chapters may not offer much in helpful insight. A few chapters reference the Institute of Medicine (2011) Report "The Future of Nursing Leadership: Leading Change, Advancing Health" and give illustrations how to implement these recommendations. Because one chapter does not build on another, the chapter organization appears random to the reader; however, this flexibility allows you to customize your reading to your interests and time.
It concludes with leadership perspectives from a multidisciplinary team with examples of nursing leadership at the Duke University Health System and what makes them successful leaders. The editors offer a summary of the key points from the contributors and recommendations for the future of nursing leadership.
This book contributes to the overall knowledge base of nursing leadership and has the broad scope of looking at the nursing leadership from those outside of nursing. I recommend it to all who are leaders (formal or informal) or aspire to be leaders in their profession.
Disclaimer: The author has disclosed that she has no significant relationships with, or financial interest in, any commercial companies pertaining to this review.